While testifying on Wednesday during Google’s antitrust trial, Apple executive Eddy Cue reflected on how seemingly invincible companies can suddenly lose relevance.
“People still are going to need toothpaste 20 years from now, 40 years from now. You may not need an iPhone 10 years from now. As crazy as that sounds,” Mr Cue, the senior vice president of services at Apple, told a lawyer representing Alphabet, owner of Google.
“You have to earn it. You have to develop. And so what we've seen always happen is the only way that you truly have real competition is when there's technology shifts.”
Mr Cue was responding to a question about what artificial intelligence is starting to do to search engine companies such as Google, and explaining how technology businesses often struggle to adjust.
He explained how he thought Apple had avoided complacency and had adjusted to huge technological shifts.
“One of the best things that Apple did in its history is we killed the iPod,” he said, with US District Judge Amit Mehta closely listening.
“We killed the iPod ourselves with the iPhone. Most companies have a very difficult time killing themselves when new technology comes along because you're afraid, why would you kill the golden goose, in a sense? And so, what I see generally is new technologies come about, new companies get formed, the incumbents have a hard time with it.”
Even the most casual tech and business observers would point out that Mr Cue’s testimony requires ample context.
Apple is sitting on an unprecedented cash reserve, and sales of its iPhones, computers and internet services show no sign of slowing.
Apple rarely makes its executives or employees available for interviews at such a lengthy and granular level.
Those attending Wednesday's court session got a glimpse of a top Apple executive lucidly discussing the daily grind inside one of the world’s most admired companies.
Mr Cue's testimony lasted more than an hour in a case claiming Google is a monopoly that should be broken up.
The trial has seen other tech executives, along with analysts, economists, and regulatory historians called to the witness box to provide insights to Judge Amit Mehta.
He ruled last year that Google had been illegally exploiting its dominance in the search sector to stifle competition and innovation, therefore harming consumers.
Among the DOJ's solutions is a proposal that would require Google to share search data with rivals to increase competition.
Google, however, has asserted that the DOJ's solutions unfairly penalise the company, and throughout the remedy trial has sought a significantly less consequential penalty.
“The plaintiff’s proposal is too broad,” Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said last week, questioning how productive it would be to share the company's search data.
“It would be trivial to reverse engineer and effectively build Google search from the outside.”
During the DOJ's trial, which began in 2023, Mr Cue was called to the stand, where he discussed a long-standing deal the company had to make Google the default search engine on its computers and iPhones.
During Wednesday's questioning, he painted a picture of a fast-moving tech landscape driven by AI developments that could render a strict remedy from the DOJ moot.
Mr Cue said Google's search engine makes Apple's products better, and seemed to warn against a harsh remedy that would, in turn, hurt Apple.
“We have to pick what's best for our customers and today, that is still Google,” he said.
Later Wednesday evening, as media reports began to pile up related to the future prosperity of Google in the wake of how AI was changing the nature of search, the company issued a press release.
"We continue to see overall query growth in Search," the statement from Google said.
"That includes an increase in total queries coming from Apple’s devices and platforms. More generally, as we enhance Search with new features, people are seeing that Google Search is more useful for more of their queries — and they’re accessing it for new things and in new ways, whether from browsers or the Google app, using their voice or Google Lens."
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Starring: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry
4/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Feeding the thousands for iftar
Six industrial scale vats of 500litres each are used to cook the kanji or broth
Each vat contains kanji or porridge to feed 1,000 people
The rice porridge is poured into a 500ml plastic box
350 plastic tubs are placed in one container trolley
Each aluminium container trolley weighing 300kg is unloaded by a small crane fitted on a truck
The years Ramadan fell in May
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
RACE CARD
6.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh82.500 (Dirt) 1,400m
7.05pm Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,400m
7.40pm Handicap (TB) Dh92,500 (Turf) 2,410m
8.15pm Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (D) 1,900m
8.50pm UAE 2000 Guineas Trial (TB) Conditions Dh183,650 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm Dubai Trophy (TB) Conditions Dh183,650 (T) 1,200m
10pm Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (T) 1,400m
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Turkish Ladies
Various artists, Sony Music Turkey
1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List
James Mustich, Workman
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
The Gandhi Murder
- 71 - Years since the death of MK Gandhi, also christened India's Father of the Nation
- 34 - Nationalities featured in the film The Gandhi Murder
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Swiss fly direct from the UAE to Zurich from Dh2,855 return, including taxes.
The chalet
Chalet N is currently open in winter only, between now and April 21. During the ski season, starting on December 11, a week’s rental costs from €210,000 (Dh898,431) per week for the whole property, which has 22 beds in total, across six suites, three double rooms and a children’s suite. The price includes all scheduled meals, a week’s ski pass, Wi-Fi, parking, transfers between Munich, Innsbruck or Zurich airports and one 50-minute massage per person. Private ski lessons cost from €360 (Dh1,541) per day. Halal food is available on request.
House-hunting
Top 10 locations for inquiries from US house hunters, according to Rightmove
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Westminster, London
- Camden, London
- Glasgow, Scotland
- Islington, London
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- Argyll and Bute, Scotland
- Fife, Scotland
- Tower Hamlets, London
Green ambitions
- Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
- Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
- Biodiversity: Bat cave to be added and habitats designed for kingfishers and little grebes
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Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Milkman by Anna Burns
Ordinary People by Diana Evans
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Circe by Madeline Miller
Racecard
6.30pm: Mazrat Al Ruwayah Group Two (PA) US$55,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
7.05pm: Meydan Trophy (TB) $100,000 (Turf) 1,900m
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (D) 1,200m
8.15pm: Balanchine Group Two (TB) $250,000 (T) 1,800m
8.50pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 1,000m
9.25pm: Firebreak Stakes Group Three (TB) $200,000 (D) 1,600m
10pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 2,410m
The National selections: 6.30pm: RM Lam Tara, 7.05pm: Al Mukhtar Star, 7.40pm: Bochart, 8.15pm: Magic Lily, 8.50pm: Roulston Scar, 9.25pm: Quip, 10pm: Jalmoud
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
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Yahya Al Ghassani's bio
Date of birth: April 18, 1998
Playing position: Winger
Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda
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Name: JustClean
Based: Kuwait with offices in other GCC countries
Launch year: 2016
Number of employees: 130
Sector: online laundry service
Funding: $12.9m from Kuwait-based Faith Capital Holding
2020 Oscars winners: in numbers
- Parasite – 4
- 1917– 3
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- Joker – 2
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How Voiss turns words to speech
The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser
This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen
A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
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Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
Scores
Oman 109-3 in 18.4 overs (Aqib Ilyas 45 not out, Aamir Kaleem 27) beat UAE 108-9 in 20 overs (Usman 27, Mustafa 24, Fayyaz 3-16, Bilal 3-23)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
Brief scores:
Barcelona 3
Pique 38', Messi 51 (pen), Suarez 82'
Rayo Vallecano 1
De Tomas Gomez 24'
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Film: Raid
Dir: Rajkumar Gupta
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Ileana D'cruz and Saurabh Shukla
Verdict: Three stars
